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American Idol 2012 – a Corker

Well it’s over ladies and gentlemen - two nights of fantastic
TV every week, watching talented youngsters chasing their dreams – until January
2013 that is. Thankfully X Factorisn’t too far away (with Brittany Spears
as a judge..) and apparently the producers of Idol have a new talent show
launching in July – so some good stuff to look forward to. The new show is called
‘Opening Act’ and it looks like a pretty interesting idea.... As always, the results of American Idol have caused a lot of controversy –
check out the comments on this article in E! News It’s always the same, but the criticism is amusing because it is the American
public voting. In many ways, it’s a flawed part of the show, ‘cos the
mini-princesses (aka the female tween voters) are ALWAYS going to dominate voter
demographics, so why is anyone surprised?

Ultimately Phillip winning is a wonderful thing for
the show and for music, because he’ll inspire brilliant musicians to take a
chance on shows like Idol – and that’s good for us viewers. The other great
quality Phillip has, that is inspirational, is the message it’s OK to be yourself
– more kids need to embrace this. If the girls voted for him because he’s cute –
that’s great, because they also voted for someone who’s a cracking muso. I don’t
want to take anything away from Jessica because she is definitely a powerhouse
voice, but she made one fatal error on the finale (which I believe is a sign of
her immaturity) her “hit” song was bloody appalling. I believe she lost the
show on that performance alone, but she’ll be OK – with a voice like that she
can’t lose.

Ultimately, as the years go on, the show is attracting
higher quality performers as people realise throwing your hat in with Idol is
actually a very good thing for career prospects. I mean look at Adam Lambert –
a global mega-star because of Idol. It didn’t matter that he didn’t win because
the stage was set for superstardom. He’s definitely still my favourite
contestant and the new album is cracking.

As an aside, many are criticising the judges performance,
but the trio have chosen far superior talent for the top 24 than their predecessors
ever did – so that’s an indication to me they know what they’re doing. I also
like the fact they’re nice to the contestants –showing a sensitive, human side
is apparently bad by some people’s definition? It’s a brutal world the music business,
but it doesn’t mean you need to shame young talent on global TV. I always
believe positive encouragement gets better results – but I’m just a softy. The
big news about the judges is apparently it’s JLo’s last season, which will be a
shame – I admire her.

Overall for me, this season was the best yet – and even
though it’s said every year, I think it’s true. A sure sign it was a great year
is I didn’t care who won, and for the first time, didn’t feel deeply
disappointed by the results. Many in the top 10 were amazing, with Joshua at
the top of my list, closely followed by Phillip, Skylar, Elise and Colton –
they’re just my style. Jessica is going to have an amazing career, as is Holly –
but I just don’t crave the music they perform. They’re the sorts of girls who’ll
do a movie soundtrack for a romantic mega hit, but it’s just not my cup of tea.
Doesn’t mean they’re not good.

So another year is done and it was awesome. I love
watching the emotion around people chasing their dreams, and I find it a
fascinating process because some get it and improve, while others just don’t
seem to find their groove on the show – Elise was one of those for me. She
thought the judges were harsh, but she just didn’t find her way and she wasn’t
warm enough – that makes a HUGE difference because American Idol is a
popularity contest too. Tommy Hilfiger added a fashion dimension to the show this
year which was cool, and Jimmy did a really great job – although what’s with
the nose twitching? The producers also must have read my blog from last year :), because they had a past Idol perform on every show J - brilliant and they brought the guests back – in a slightly
different way.

American Idol is a great show, full of heart and bursting with talent. I love it
and find it fascinating – but next year, how about a little more support for
the girls America?

I grew up in country Australia, went to university in Melbourne studying music and ancient history, joined the Australian Army as a musician, entered the world of public relations, and then decided to head off around the world. That was 1995 and I'm still going, having lived in London, Boston, NYC, Thailand and Singapore - with a couple of short trips back to Australia in between. Singapore-based now, with an adorable husband and two rambunctious sons, my professional background is communication strategy and content marketying, with a focus on business and creative writing. My passion is people from all walks of life, and the amazing diversity of this extraordinary planet. I reckon life is pretty great, even though it can be crap sometimes too. I also blog extensively, with three blogs - my personal blog Without the Bollocks where I talk about life, my professional blog SAJE focused on all things communication, and a kids adventure blog for Singapore. Hey what can I say, I need to write!